


One Last Time

by Aaronlisa



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jossverse
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-03
Updated: 2012-01-03
Packaged: 2017-10-28 19:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/311347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronlisa/pseuds/Aaronlisa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of "Not Fade Away," Angel pays Buffy one more visit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Last Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darkslayerfaith](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=darkslayerfaith).



> Set at the end of ATS Season Five, not comic compliant.

She finds him waiting for her on a beach in the brilliant sunshine. It reminds her of her nightmares after she had sent him to hell because of Angelus. For a brief moment, Buffy trembles in fear and she wonders if this is just another nightmare. (She'd never admit when awake but those nightmares have never ever really left her.)

"Angel," Buffy quietly calls out.

He looks towards her and she can see on his face that he no longer loves her and it's like a knife to her stomach. She wants to run away but she's a Slayer (no longer _the_ Slayer but a Slayer nonetheless) so she keeps walking towards him until she's standing in front of him.

"Buffy," Angel says.

He lifts a hand, she thinks to brush some of her hair off of her face before he drops it to his side. Even after she had sent him to Hell, it was never like this. He was never this distant, there was still a connection. She can hear the words that he doesn't speak. Too much water under the bridge and all that.

"You're human," Buffy says.

She feels stupid for pointing out the obvious.

"Yes. There was a prophecy."

He falls silent and she wishes for a time when they had shared almost every thing with one another. But that was another lifetime ago, a time before Spike, when Sunnydale wasn't a crater, when he was a vampire and she was _the_ Slayer. Buffy sighs and brushes her off of her face.

"I am not sure what to say."

"I just thought that you should know," Angel says.

Around them the beach is full of happy families who are laughing in the sunlight and she feels like someone has driven a stake in her heart. If she were to tell that she was done baking, it wouldn't matter now. And in that moment, she realizes her failure to come to his aid in Los Angeles is part of the reason. She had abandoned him instead of trusting him and she feels hollow.

"Thank you," Buffy says. (She doesn't tell him that this would have been better told over the phone.)

"I won't keep you or ask to be apart of your Council. All I want is to be left alone, to live out this life."

There's a finality in his words and she wants to go back in time and beg him not to leave her in Sunnydale, she wants to fall to her knees in the sand and beg him to stay. But she won't. It's not her way and there's no point.

"If you need anything, contact me."

"I'll be fine."

He turns from her and this it. This is goodbye. She impulsively reaches out for his wrist and pulls him back to her. It's hard for her to understand that he's weak now, he's just like Xander and Giles are. She wonders if that's why he's set on leaving for good this time.

"Please stay," Buffy says.

"I've tried that before and it didn't work," Angel says. "Trust me."

"But that was before you were human. There's no curse now."

There's a sadness that seems to wrap around him and he shakes his head.

"No Buffy," Angel tells her. "It won't work, we were never meant to be."

"Can't you try?"

He shakes his head at her but pulls her in for a kiss. It tastes of salt from the ocean and something sweet and cold like ice cream and it's like no other kiss that they ever shared but there's something achingly familiar about it. She wants to cling to him and to this moment forever but she knows that if his mind is set on leaving then she can't stop him.

"Promise me, if you change your mind, you'll find me."

Angel looks down at her, his arms wrapped around her and he smiles for the first time since she saw him standing on the beach bathed in golden sunlight like any other normal person.

"Always," Angel promises before he kisses her again.

And then she knows that he still loves her and that he forgives her.

 

((END))


End file.
